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Hoping to get a hand from partners, Hewlett-Packard is assembling a network of service providers that will offer hosted services based on the company's Helion software. The HP Helion Network will provide organizations with a set of infrastructure services for hosting servers or applications.

The network will differ from others that include partner services, such as Microsoft Azure and VMware's vCloud, in that the HP partners will join a governing body that has a say in how Helion and related software are developed, according to Steven Dietch, HP's vice president of cloud marketing.

HP's Helion stack, which is in development, includes a version of the open-source OpenStack infrastructure hosting software, as well as the open-source CloudFoundry software for developing and hosting applications.

Thus far, the Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited, Intel and the software provider Synapsis have signed on to the network.

The first batch of providers will start to offer services in November, when HP finishes work on the software. Over time, the network will offer Helion-based services more widely around the globe.

Customers will be able to move their workloads from one provider to another, or to and from their own privately run Helion-based infrastructure, Dietch said.

While HP will offer Helion-based cloud services itself, it says it won't compete directly with its partners. Along with service providers, it hopes to attract systems integrators, who build computer systems for organizations, as well as equipment resellers and software vendors.

Companies that can tailor Helion to unique markets or geographies would be prime candidates for joining the network, Dietch said.

HP hopes members of its existing CloudAgile Service Provider program, which has more than 115 service providers who run 1,500 private cloud deployments, will also join the Helion network.